Chimp Innovation Study at Lincoln Park Zoo

Chimpanzee innovation study at Lincoln Park Zoo

Keri Wiginton / Blue Sky / 2013

A chimpanzee sits in the Regenstein Center for African Apes at the Lincoln Park Zoo. The Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes is currently conducting a study with the chimps to see how they innovate.

A chimpanzee sits in the Regenstein Center for African Apes at the Lincoln Park Zoo. The Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes is currently conducting a study with the chimps to see how they innovate. (Keri Wiginton / Blue Sky / 2013)

If you are a student of innovation, here is one lesson you can draw from a troop of chimpanzees at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo: There's a payoff to trying unexpected things, even when the current state of affairs isn't too bad.